Alyce Tran

The co-founder of luxury leather-goods brand The Daily Edited has turned a fashion blog into a $15 million business.

To what extent did social media contribute to the success of The Daily Edited (TDE)?

I wouldn’t have a business without social media. We tried a lot of social platforms and Instagram stuck because it’s driven by visual content.

How much of your day is dedicated to social media?

I check it every half-hour or hour. If someone posts and tags us, I always respond. It’s not all roses; we might get a complaint so we have to be on it.

How did you overcome people’s desire to touch the product before they purchase?

People said you couldn’t sell luxury online because customers need to physically see items but Net-a-Porter is now one of the biggest sellers of premium handbags in the world. By the time we came around in 2014, customers were adept at shopping online. You need to provide them with all the information they need, great imagery and online customer care.

TDE now has retail outlets in several David Jones stores, as well as Singapore and New York. How do you oversee both your online and bricks-and-mortar operations?

I can see what’s happening in our online store from anywhere in the world. But I can’t go around to every physical store to check on them so our staff are all on [team collaboration tool] Slack and we have a photo channel. Every morning, whoever gets in first takes 10 photos of the store so I can see what’s what.

Do any other ecommerce websites inspire you?

I often envy that in the United States, Amazon has its own delivery service. I costed out having our own fleet in Sydney but it just wouldn’t work. The breadth of offering on multi-brand websites, and additions such as content creation and beautiful magazines, are things I’d love to work towards.